Books I recommend

There are some great kid's books on my shelf that I thought I'd share (in case you are looking for a book  to read)

In no particular order, here are some of Sunita and my favorites right now:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I like this book for it's fun simplicity and good pictures. It also teaches the life of a butterfly. My only gripe is that it actually isn't accurate.....on the last couple pages it calls what the caterpillar makes a "cacoon." If the caterpillar is going to be a moth, that would be correct, but since it's a butterfly, it should be Chrysalis. I know, I know, it''s picky. But I guess it matters to me, because I took a marker and crossed it out in the book :) Yes, yes I did.

 God Loves me More than That

I reveiwed this book earlier on my blog. At first, I thought I wouldn't read it much, but it has become one of my favorites. My favorite line is, "It's nice to know that my whole life through, God loves me more than that." I like to read it to Sunita so that she knows, no matter what, God loves her as she grows up.

Five Little Ladybugs

Another bug book. I'm partial to these ;) This one is just fun and has little "bugs" to touch and push.

 Guess How Much I Love You

This book is a classic, and just a "warm and fuzzy" read.

 The Carrot Seed

For a book that doesn't have many words, I sure find this one amusing! (So does my 5 year old neighbor) It's one of our favorite reads for a laugh. Plus, it's a board book so has easy-to-turn pages. My neighbor loves it because she can quote it herself. (i.e. read it to me)

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes

I love how this book reads. It talks about babies from all over the world, how they are the same and how they are different. I enjoy reading it to Sunita especially because of having relatives in India. I like reminding her that everyone is special, no matter what part of the world they are born in.

Goodnight Gorilla

This book is an all-time-favorite of mine (and every kid I've babysat). Not sure what it is, but it's a keeper. This book actually has no words, but I've "read" it so long, I have a standard "story" that I read aloud now. Our favorite two pages are the black ones (if you read it you'll know what I'm talking about). The one that has all the "goodnights" (read in many different voices) and then simply the two eyeballs ("Who's in my bedroom with me?!")

Even if you don't necessarily have a kid to read all these to, I'd personally say you could get away with reading them yourself :)

I'm sure you could find them all at the library.

Or, you could get them from Amazon (where these images are from)

A weekday Project

 Our dryer has been on the fritz the last couple weeks. It at first stopped drying, and then started a horrendous squeal every time we ran it. Therefore, for the time being, I went the old-fashioned way of drying our clothes, and kept laundry to a minimum.

But there comes a time when I just didn't appreciate the racks of clothes hanging around. So I thought maybe I'd check into fixing it myself!

I "Googled" Squealing Dryer, and came up with a couple great websites. The main one I used, was Dave's Repair. (I highly recommend it if you need to fix the same problem as me!)

 So first I set out the tools I would need: a Phillips screwdriver, a socket wrench, gloves, and some sewing machine oil.

 And I un-plugged it from the wall.

 It took a couple tries, but I finally figured out how to get the lid up. That was exciting to see progress :)
Then I stopped to feed baby.

 The next step was to take off the front panel. This one took a bit more muscle and probably took me the longest of everything! (It helps if you read the directions and FOLLOW them about where to push and pull)
Then I took a break to feed and change baby. Took a phone call. Etc.

 The front pannel was off and looking good (though linty).

 Some unexpected springs fell out. Oops.
The next thing was to take the belt off and the "drum' out, but poor little me didn't have enough muscles to do it. Thank goodness for Grandma stopping by :) And she even brought a snack and her vaccuum cleaner so we could get all the lint out. :)

Quite a fascinating mechanism once you get it all taken apart! I oiled the bearings and moving parts, hoping that as the directions said, that would stop the squeal. Then we had to put it all back together. (Of course, after eating said snack, taking a baby break, etc)

After all was said and done, we turned the dryer on for a "test drive" and lo-and-behold, NO SQUEAL! Ha. Just goes to show you what one can do with a little reading and the right tools (and muscle from Mom).

The best part, was at the bottom of the article it said, "You just saved $100." Nice. Of course, I spent probably 3 hours doing it, but it was exciting to me.

Now on to the next problem....no heat. :) But after this....I'm sure that will be a cinch!

A Relaxing Morning

 It's a beautiful Friday morning, and we here at home have taken time to relax and enjoy the quiet and sunshine.

Little Kiddo is taking her regular morning nap on the couch.

 Warm sun is streaming in through the front window, just to my rocking chair which is pefect!

 I took time to check my email and set my "to read pile" out for the day.

 Laundry is started.

 The bed is made.

 The dishes are....er....undone :)

Hope you're enjoying your week's end too!

When Company Comes: Cleaning

This is a personal post. I mean, this is probably a very personal family preference as far as what I'm about to say. It pertains to cleaning.

When company comes, I must admit, it sends me into a flurry of cleaning things up. Particularly the kitchen floor and bathroom. I guess those get neglected more than I like to admit.

But either way, I tend to do a cleaning right before we know company is coming. Well, not RIGHT before, but if we will have supper guests, that morning or afternoon I will tend to start washing things up.

And here is where we come to the crutch of the matter.

If company is coming, washing the bathroom right before they come might not be the best time of choice. Why, you ask? Well, for our household, because I use PineSol cleaner, and it ends up being a fairly strong smell that lingers throughout our apartment.

M. comes home, and he can instantly tell I've been cleaning. And honestly, I'm not convinced that PineSol is the most aromatic or welcoming smell to come home to :)

So my advice (which I'll need to take myself), is if you know company is coming consider these options

• Clean the bathroom the day before you know company is coming
• Have a regular weekly day to clean the bathroom no matter when company comes
• Clean the bathroom with natural cleaners that have a lighter smell or no smell
• Just wipe down the counters
• In the summer, open the windows
• As a last resort, just make sure to clean the bathroom hours before company comes, and then burn a candle or make brownies or something

Cleaning

Oh how I wish I had a picture to share!

Yesterday my "big" project was to clean out 2 of my 3 junk drawers. It was really refreshing. I cleaned out the "baggie and aluminum" drawer in the kitchen, throwing out things like broken clothspins, ripped itty-bitty pieces of aluminum foil, broken birthday candles, and a handful of twist-ties just because I still have a lot. I was able to organize the drawer with some boxes and jars to contain things that were sliding around like a clown on an ice rink. Such a nice feeling to open the drawer now!

The other drawer I did was our "tape and scissors' drawer in the dining room. This drawer had WAY more than tape and scissors in it! It had become a catch-all for my coupons, newspapers, miscelaneous papers and notebooks, pens that didn't work, random screws and brackets, a train whistle, a penny whistle, a yo-yo, stickers, glue sticks that were all dried up, and much much more! :) Again, I was able to clean out and recycle a whole bunch of stuff, making the drawer actually functional to find things now! ha!

I still have one more drawer to tackle someday. It's my "craft and catch all drawer." I'm afraid this drawer gets stuffed with small items that have no other home, or have a home and I just haven't put them away and instead shove them in this drawer. I know it contains really random collections, from paint to glue to pictures and cards and calendars. It probably has other surprises that I'll only find once I get to cleaning it. But that all depends on a certain Baby's napping :)

So, with or without pictures, I wish you happy cleaning too!

Book Review Time: Kid's Book

I am tardy in posting this review. I read it about a month ago, just haven't taken the time to get on the computer and write about it....sorry about that!

I picked this book to review because I already had another book from this series (God Gave Us You). The books are definitely one style, and if you like one, you'll love this collection "God Gave Us So Much." (It's 3 books in one.)

However, I don't think these books are my favorite style.

The content of the 3 books is great, and is written to answer some big questions for little kids, like What is Heaven? and What is Love? I find the theology fine, but it's a bit wordy. (How do you cover those questions without being wordy I don't know!)

Even though they seem to be little kid books, I'd say they're more readable and appropriate for the 8-10 age range. This is mostly because any kid younger than that will not want to sit through all the reading. The pictures aren't interesting enough to keep a small child's attention long enough to read one page. The pictures are nice, I'm just saying for the amount of words on one page, it doesn't seem to keep the attention of the kid yet, and they want to turn the page sooner than I'm done reading.

So, if you like the, what I call, "lovey-dovey" style of art and pictures, you'll like these books. I'm not partial, so I think I'll skip out on any more books by this author and artist.

If you like it, I'm sure you can find it at the library, or on Amazon or CBD. (Or you can ask me for my copy)

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Waterbrook Press as part of their blogger book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."*

Things to say

So, we're getting into a nice routine around here. February has been very enjoyable as a month :)
Baby Sunita has gotten to where she sleeps 5 hours at night.....nice for mom! She therefore only wakes up once "during the night" and then takes a morning nap. She has almost outgrown her bassinet now too...but I'm hesitant to move her to a crib because of that once a night feeding. (Lazy mom :)

Other news, I'm getting much better at giving baths. Still, Grandma is the ace, and Sunita loves it when SHE gives her a bath, but we're working on our style here at home too :) Yesterday I didn't even smack her head on the side of the bathtub and the water stayed warm the whole bath, which means I'm getting more efficicient....ah what improvement!

Grandma also seems to have the touch of getting Sunita to sleep in many different positions, like tummy and back and side. Finally, as of yesterday, I too succeded in getting a certain little girl to take a nap on the couch. I think I didn't have as much to do with that as the fact that she is just getting bigger and trying new things.

Speaking of new things, I think she's just getting the hang of smiling on cue. She practically 5 weeks old now, and has been making some nice new noises and half smiles when you talk to her, which thrills her Daddy and Mommy!

Other than baby news, we have been slowly getting back into doing household projects and getting out for walks.

I have pictures of some fun projects I've worked on in the last couple weeks,but can't get them uploaded to the computer so you'll have to wait. Promise I'll work on that soon :)